Help on adjusting my custom Avatar's parts

Hi all! I guess I don't need to add that I'm a first time poster here!

I have been getting some pretty good results making objects in SL. I decided to make a robot avatar which is coming along nicely. My trouble is that when I'm adjusting all the parts to the avatar, it's very difficult to get everything just right so that parts of the person underneath don't show through.

I started with a shape that makes the person tall and skinny to the max which itself looks kinda funky, but I still have the problem. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions:

- is invisible (alpha) skin possible?
- a seriously thin stick man avatar for the shape? (Jack Skellington)
- anything you can think of to help!

Thanks for your time;
TimRiches Enoch

What you want is an invisiprim. Search the forums for that word, and you'll find the script to create one. What the script does when you drop it in a prim is it applies a special type of texture to the prim that will causes it to hide avatars inside it or behind it. Be careful with it though, as it will also hide any objects with 32-bit textures on them.

Thanks for the prompt reply, Chosen Few! I did find the invisiprim script and should have no problem inserting it into objects. Just a question that the other threads don't answer: How do I use it?

OK, yes they do say that you just drop the script into a prim, but then what? Do I make and wear new body parts that include the script and then put my desired prim over that? Do I just attach a small prim with the script onto my hip or whatever and increase the size until my avatar is invisible?

Also, my new avatar has some alpha textures for things like the grill on the firebox - will this invisiprim make them also disappear?

Thanks for your patience! When I get this right, you can contact me inworld and I'll give you a copy of the robot if you like!

Thanks again,
TimRiches Enoch

EDIT: I just found a website that explains it! : http://avatartoolbox.googlepages.com/Invisiprims.html

Invisiprims behave just like any other prims. They just happen to have the invisibility texture on them instead of any other. Attaching them to an avatar or linking them to other prims is done the same way you'd do it for anything else.

The answer to your questions, therefore, is it all depends on what you're trying to make. For example, if you want to hide the entire avatar in bubble of invisiblilty, then you'd just attach a large invisiprim to your pelvis or to another relatively stable point, and size it to your liking. If you just want to hide your left arm though, then it would probably make more sense to use a a series of several smaller invisiprims, each shaped for a specific arm section and attached accordingly, so that the whole thing articulates with the arm as it moves. You've probably already done the same thing to cover your various body parts in mechanical-looking prims for your robot. Just apply the same logic to the invisiprims.

If you want to see an easy example of how invisiprims are commonly used, take a look at any decent pair of high heeled shoes. Sine the shape of the avatar's actual heel is generally atrocious, most shoemakers will build an invisiprim into the shoe to hide the real heal and let the more correctly shaped shoe-heel show through. You can do the same for every part of your robot.